It feels important that “Catherine Called Birdy” and “On the Come Up”, both films about girls coming of age in ambivalent circumstances, are directed by actresses turned directors. “Catherine Called Birdy” is director/writer/actress Lena Dunham’s third feature film. Since her debut film,
Dunham has been a polarising figure in contemporary media (something she seems to publicly relish). Even though her directing and writing has often eclipsed her work as a performer, Dunham’s image – even as sometimes actress – feels inextricably linked to her work. For Sanaa Lathan, who makes her feature debut with “On the Come Up”, her image as an actress feels even more central to how audiences know her. Lathan has been a central figure in contemporary Black film and television since the nineties, and like many key Black women of her age feels underserved and forgotten in recent years. Both Dunham and Lathan have performed versions of young womanhood on the camera, and there’s an urgency to the way that that awareness of what it means to a woman – or a girl on the brink of womanhood – that informs both of their films. They seem oppositional, but the two films feel importantly linked in the way they approach the maturity of a young girl as the most important thing in the world.
